"Meh…!" Nick froze and a weird sound slipped out of his throat. The bear cub's almost pitch-black eyes looked like they were staring straight into his soul. Nick couldn't move. He looked at the tentacle hovering over his shoulder.
'Help me,' he mouthed.
The tentacle looked at him before following his gaze to the bear cub at his feet. It reached down.
Nick thought it would take it away. Instead, it rubbed the bear cub's head and patted it gently.
The bear cub strangely enough leaned into the tentacle's pats.
Nick wasn't sure what to do now. He could only stare at the tentacle treating the bear cub like an ordinary pet.
'I guess it's no different than a dog to it,' Nick thought, realizing that to the tentacle monster in his basement, it didn't matter much whether it was a bear or a dog. Even to him, a bear cub alone wasn't that dangerous.
He was just a little scared of bears. Moreover, where there was a bear cub, there was a mama bear.
Nick slowly moved away from the bear to try and look out through the front door. He didn't see any other bears. He glanced back into the kitchen.
The bear cub standing on two legs and reaching for the tentacle hanging just out of its reach was pretty cute.
Nick sighed.
Maybe bears with blue fur were friendlier than the grizzlies he was used to. He hadn't heard about them before, but he wasn't a wildlife expert. They were probably just rare.
That didn't mean he wanted it in his house, though.
Nick grabbed one of the sausages. Instantly, the bear cub's attention turned toward him. The tentacle became naught but a faint memory in front of the tantalizing, shiny, glossy, juicy sausage.
The bear cub's eyes shimmered as it started walking behind the nervous Nick. It followed the sausage with its eyes and its soul straight to Nick's front door.
Nick waved the sausage in front of the bear cub's face before throwing it into the forest.
"There you go! Stay in the forest where you belong now," Nick said before quickly closing the door. He glanced out of the window to make sure the bear cub wasn't coming back before returning to the kitchen.
A few moments later, he felt something furry brush against his leg again. He looked down.
"Mother—!"
Nick turned around. The door was wide open. He slowly turned to the tentacle.
"Did you…?"
The tentacle avoided his gaze.
Nick turned to the bear cub again. The furry little thing was looking up at him with big watery eyes. It wanted another sausage. Nick understood it. He was gnawing on one of his own.
Good sausages.
"Nope, none for you." Nick shook his head. He was not giving the baby bear any more sausages. It hadn't worked to lure it away, and he wanted it for himself.
"Nuh-uh." Nick shook his head again. He was not going to be swayed by those dastardly eyes.
He was supposed to be scared of bears, dammit.
Although…
"You opened the door, so just know that this is your sausage," Nick said to the tentacle while grabbing the third and final sausage.
The tentacle quickly turned to the sausage. Nick dropped it into the bear cub's open maw.
The tentacle flashed forward and yanked it out. The bear's jaws snapped shut around empty air.
The bear opened its eyes in surprise. It looked at Nick. It followed the smell of the sausage toward the tentacle slowly withdrawing into the basement. It's mouth opened in shock.
The bear chased after the tentacle. The tentacle withdrew quicker. It disappeared into the basement with a swoosh, and the door slammed shut in the bear's face. It plopped down with a whimper.
Slowly, with tears welling up in the corners of its eyes, it turned to Nick.
"Hey, I don't have any more sausages," he said, hiding the packet of sausages behind his back. He pointed at the basement door.
"You're going to have to talk with that one about it." When the bear turned back to the door, Nick quickly hid the sausage in the fridge.
However, the bear's nostrils twitched. It turned back to Nick with eyes closed. It got up and without opening its eyes, followed the scent again. With airy steps, it circled Nick before pressing its wet nose against the fridge's cold door.
"No," Nick said. "You're not going in there." He carefully approached the bear before stopping. He tilted his head.
He glanced at the bear.
"Did you hear that?"
"Kai!"
"Yep, that was definitely a voice." Nick frowned and turned to the door. He curiously peeked his head out the door. Confused, the bear did the same.
"Kai! Where are you?!"
The bushes rustled. A tall woman with pelt clothing and short blue hair stepped out from behind the trees.
She froze when she saw Nick's house, something she did not recognize at all. She had never seen anything like it before. She did not know what to do. She knew she shouldn't have said anything about the center of the forest to Kai.
But then she saw it.
A man's face peeking out of the hole in the middle of the structure. And below it, Kai's head.
"Kai!" She shouted instinctively, fear and worry marking her face and voice.
Nick slowly looked down.
"Is this yours…?" He asked with something like a frown.
The woman flinched and looked at Nick.
"Y-yes?" She answered uncertainly. A man with a strange structure in the center of the forest. That could only mean trouble.
"Good. Take him back. He ate my sausage." Nick nudged the blue bear, Kai, out of his house. Kai looked back at Nick and, more specifically, the scent of sausage lingering in the air.
But before he could protest, his mother snuck up behind him, picked him up, and retreated.
"Thank you, I'm sorry, please don't harm us!" The woman shot out in one go before turning and sprinting into the forest again.